


Out Hunting

by lemonlapin



Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: F/M, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-06
Updated: 2019-09-06
Packaged: 2020-10-11 00:28:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20537165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lemonlapin/pseuds/lemonlapin
Summary: Request from tumblr of John Marston trying to secretly follow F!Reader when she goes hunting a legendary animal.





	Out Hunting

To say that John was pissed would be an understatement. Bill letting her go out to the Grizzlies no questions asked was understandable, expected even - he was an idiot, but Hosea? Charles? There were bears in those goddamn mountains. It was in the name! For fucks sake.

Old Boy let out a disgruntled huff and John realized he’d been pushing his horse for a good part of the day, a bit of shame crept up his chest as he slowed their pace down. “Sorry, boy,” He mumbled, searching his satchel for an apple as a peace offering. Teeth grazed his palm and he wasn’t surprised; at least it wasn’t in the butt like the last time he needed a long ride to cool down and nearly rammed into a tree.

The rest of the ride was rather uneventful until the cold set in and John swore it made his scars itch. Old Boy seemed to sense it too as he slowed even more, ears flicking at any noise. With a firm pat against his neck, John urged him forward, settling deeper into the upturned collar of his coat while pulling out his binoculars. A quick scan revealed a camp across a frozen lake but he couldn’t be sure it was hers or not without getting closer.

Y/N grinned widely as she approached the ram’s body, a warm surge of pride making her almost forget that she had a hell of a climb to make back to camp. Thankfully her horse stubbornly followed her as she was tracking so she didn’t have to lug this thing the whole way. But there was the matter of actually lifting it onto her horse as leaving a skinned carcass in bear country was a bad idea.

Hands on her hips, she took a moment to gather her strength and stared out across Cattail Pond. There was a large dark speck moving on the other side that she had a hard time making out the details of which meant it was time to hustle. Hopefully, it was just a hunter but there was always the chance of it not and that was trouble she didn’t have time for. She couldn’t wait to see the look on John’s face when she rode back into camp with a fancy new coat or gloves from the trapper.

By the time she leads her horse back to camp, the sun’s dropped behind the peaks and the first stars of the night are shining brightly. She’d lost sight of the speck during the trek so she kept a firm grip on her rifle just to be safe but tried not to dwell on it too much. Right now she wanted to cook some meat and get nice and cozy in her sleeping bag. It’d be a long ride tomorrow to the trapper so the sooner to sleep the better. Although that didn’t stop her tent from looking a little empty.

The crack of a nearby twig snapped her quickly out of that line of thinking and she reflexively dropped to a crouch, finger shifting to rest beside the trigger. Being quiet in the snow was a little difficult but she managed to creep around her tent and circle back towards where she heard noises. Colour her surprised at the sight of Old Boy hitched to a tree, looking miserable until he recognized her and perked his head up, fully expecting a treat. Of course, she fished out a carrot from her bag for him and unhitched him before continuing on, doing her best to step in John’s steps but the man has the stride of a giraffe. Eventually, she spotted him crouched down at her camp obviously snooping so she naturally lobbed a snowball at the back of his head.

“The fuck!” John yelped, hurrying to scoop now melting snow out of his collar and away from the back of his neck. Turning, he’s met with another snowball smacking him in the face which delighted Y/N as she began laughing, hard, most likely at his grumpy expression. The frown morphed into a smirk as a mischievous twinkle settled in his eye and Y/N didn’t notice since it was challenging to stand straight when her gut ached as she devolved into letting out terribly attractive snorts. Snow exploded from her chest which sufficiently got her attention and the next few minutes were spent waging a snowball war that ended when John playfully tackled her into a snowdrift.

Panting, John felt his gaze soften as she reached up to adjust his hat at the same time he wiped snow off her cheek with the back of his gloved hand. Night settled in around them but he had no mind for looking at stars when the brightest of them was right in front of him.

“What are you doin’ here?” Y/N asked with a knowing smirk, loosely wrapping her arms around his shoulders.   
John struggled against pouting which just made him quick part of his mouth to the side and glanced away just like Jack did whenever he was caught sneaking candy after bed, “nothin’.”  
“Really? Here I was thinkin’ you were following me up a mountain probably thinkin’ I couldn’t handle a ram by myself.”  
“That’s not! There are bears here, Y/N.” It sounded better in his head.  
“An’ I got a gun, you silly man.”  
John let out a huff, hooking an arm under her waist to roll aside, pulling her out of the snow and on top of him before eagerly asking, “did you get it?”  
“Course I did!”  
“That’s my girl.”

Y/N blushed, trying to glare at John because he knew what those words did, but he just grinned up at her before his expression turned serious, “next time … let me come?”  
She opened her mouth to protest but he quickly continued, “not because I don’t think you can hunt or take care of yourself, I just- I don’t want anything bad happenin’ to you and … a week is a long time without you.”  
The last part was mumbled which made Y/N smile as she leaned in to quickly kiss his cheek before laying against him with her head tucked under his chin, “you could’ve just said you wanted to spend more time with me.”

They both laid in the snow, staring up at the stars for a few moments until Y/N moved to stand, struggling against John’s hold of her with a laugh, “Let me go! Don’t you want t’get out of the snow and in my tent?”  
Immediately he let go and stood with a cheeky grin, giving an enthusiastic salute, “yes ma’am!”


End file.
